By Police1 Staff
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Verizon Frontline has announced the deployment of 1,400 new 5G Ultra Wideband (UW)-compatible smartphones to officers and support staff with the Columbus Division of Police.
The new lines come as part of a city initiative designed to help ensure every officer in Columbus is equipped with a smartphone pre-loaded with proprietary law enforcement applications. Providing each law enforcement officer with a city-issued device prevents officers from having to use their personal devices for official business while also helping enhance efficiency and information security.
The devices were rolled out, and the new lines activated, in two phases. The first 400 new devices were issued as part of a pilot program which ended on November 18. The remaining 1,000 preloaded new devices were distributed this week. As officers came in to receive their new city-issued device, Verizon Frontline representatives were on hand to ensure the devices were completely operational.
The Columbus Division of Police’s selection of Verizon Frontline to provide and connect these new devices follows a series of network upgrades in the area.
These upgrades are part of a multi-year redesign of Verizon’s network architecture aimed at staying ahead of exponential data usage increases and upgrading the technology in the network. Network upgrades in Columbus included deploying new cell sites to extend coverage and capacity in local communities. They also include adding more capacity on fiber optic cables to move more data through the network and adding bandwidth to the cellular network.